Watchmen movie: Really a critique of utilitarianism?

Yesterday I saw the Watchmen movie. I haven’t read the comics or any of that jazz, but I was told that it provided a compelling critique of utilitarianism. As an ethical theory it definitely illustrated the short-comings of utilitarianism. But in the way economists use utilitarianism – namely as a framework to hang value judgments off – the argument is far less compelling.

Note if you don’t want any spoilers don’t click the tag …
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Subsidising cycling

Freakonomics reports that an Oregonian politician wants to implement bicycle licensing and registration. He says that cyclists use the roads just like cars, but they don’t have to pay a cent towards maintenance. Cyclists’ comments reveal their disgust at the idea but, as an avid cyclist myself, I must confess that I have some sympathy with the proposal. Read more

Housing market: The Barefoot result

So Barefoot and Thompson have seen a sharp increase in houes sales in March (although the increase on last March is exagerrated – given that Easter was in March last year).

I managed to get quoted in the article on it – and I sounded a little more positive than I expected.  So lets discuss if people agree with these statements:

Sales were ridiculously low, it was unsustainable in itself.

Auckland was struggling a good year or so before the rest of the country.  I’m confident Auckland’s going to be the first place moving. There’s just not enough properties in Auckland in the first place.

Got at it – once someone else has started I might get in on criticising the statements myself 😉 .  There are some other things I said that weren’t in there that might put these in context – but adding that would destroy the fun 🙂

Bleg: Nepal – what is it like?

Does anyone know what Nepal is like to visit?  Does anyone have any suggestions about places to visit in Nepal.

Any comments (relevant) welcome.

This proof’s a lemon

I couldn’t resist posting this chart linked byMegan McArdle. It is just SO appropriate given Matt’s recent post. If using graphs like this counted as proving a scientific fact then the world would be a whole lot easier to explain 🙂

Internet at work is a blessing (for your boss)

It’s always seemed to me a bit over the top to block social internet sites at offices. I’ve wondered if people spend more time looking up free proxy servers that aren’t blocked than they would have if they’d been allowed to check their Gmail. Now a study says that most people do surf at work and it actually makes most of them more productive: the opportunity to take a break and relax for a minute helps them to concentrate harder the rest of the time.

Clearly the productivity gain to surfing at work is concave, so the question is really, “at what point do the marginal gains become negative?” According to this study it’s only when you surf more than 20% of the working day that your productivity starts to decline! Read more